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City of Dubuque seeking public input on updating its Unified Development Code

City Hall in Dubuque, Iowa
Randy Gehl, City of Dubuque
City Hall in Dubuque, Iowa

The City of Dubuque is updating its Unified Development Code, which was last updated in 2009, and seeking public comments.

Dubuque's Planning Services Director Wally Wernimont says a number of factors led to initiating this 16-month process.

"We were impacted by COVID as a nation and a lot of things have changed, for instance, there's a lot more people working from home," Wernimont said in a phone interview with WVIK on Dec. 12th. "So we have a lot of vacant office space in our downtown area for adaptive reuse. Also, in addition to certain things, is trying to focus more on infill and density and increasing building heights throughout our community — with regards to that — and then also looking at it from a standpoint of trying to be... is there any barriers to development that could be happening?"

The 16-month process, which is expected to conclude in early 2026, includes collecting public comments regarding the development code. Wernimont says two surveys are available on the city's website until the end of January.

The first survey, the Community Survey, is open to anyone living in or working in the community and asks general questions about what residents would like to see improved or added, such as bike lanes. The other survey, the Technical Group Survey, is for individuals with development knowledge, such as engineers, architects, and surveyors.

"So, even on our website, even though the survey may close, we actually have a drop a comment, share your ideas and concerns," Wernimont said. "So, anytime a citizen can go to the website and provide us a direct comment, they'll come directly to my office. Then we'll review it and incorporate it with a consultant and provide those comments as we move through the Unified Development Code update."

The city is currently interviewing 40 stakeholders for more data collection, including developers, various city departments and Dubuque's Main Street Iowa.

Wernimont says the second phase will commence this summer with the hiring of Chicago consultant firm Camiros to review the current code, stakeholder interviews and public comments before drafting a new version for public review. He says the city will host multiple open houses for community engagement.

"And when I say community, I don't just indicate the citizens that live in our corporate boundaries," Wernimont said. "The Dubuque community is made up of the entire tri-state area. So, we have all those individuals that live outside our corporate boundaries, whether they're in another municipality, but we are the largest community in that tri-state area. So, we have people that come into work here, they come here to buy their groceries, they recreate here. And it's very important that we listen to all those individuals to make Dubuque a very vibrant, equitable, and inclusive city as we move forward through updating that Unified Development Code."

He hopes the update will increase the community's housing stock and create more affordable units.

01/06/25 Update: Planning Services Director Wally Wernimont says 101 responses have been filed for the community survey and 23 to the technical survey.

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Brady is a 2021 Augustana College graduate majoring in Multimedia Journalism-Mass Communication and Political Science. Over the last eight years, he has reported in central Illinois at various media outlets, including The Peoria Journal Star, WCBU Peoria Public Radio, Advanced Media Partners, and WGLT Bloomington-Normal's Public Media.